Expand Possibilities: Talk About It

Expand Possibilities

What Worlds Can You Open Up?

It can be exciting and stimulating for family members to help each other expand their horizons and explore new possibilities. Talk together about how people have opened up possibilities for you—and other horizons you’d love to explore together.

Discussion Starters with Your Kids

What is one thing you really enjoy (such as music, ideas, foods) that someone else in the family introduced you to? Tell the story of how they introduced you to it.

Think about the different people your family spends time with. In what ways are they similar to your family? How are they different from your family? Think about similarities and differences such as culture, political ideology, religious beliefs or practices, birth country or nationality, sexual orientation, food choices, and hobbies and interests. Are most of your family’s friends mostly like you, or do you see a lot of differences?

What do you find to be enjoyable about spending time with people who are different from your family? What can make it hard?

Who are (or were) significant adults outside the immediate family who have or had a big influence on your life? How did they influence you?

Who has helped you deal with disappointment or working through challenges when you’ve been trying to achieve something important to you? How did they do it?

What are ways we can support each other in our family when we run into roadblocks to our goals or dreams?

Discussion Starters with Other Parenting Adults*

What are ways you have introduced your kids to different ideas, people, or cultures? What has worked well for you? What didn’t work out well?

Sometimes we worry about our kids getting exposed to ideas or beliefs that are different from our own. How might those encounters help our kids grow?

Most families spend most of their time with people who are a lot like them. What ways, if any, has your family intentionally expanded your circle of friends to include people with many different backgrounds, experiences, or beliefs? What opportunities do you see for doing that?

What are areas of life where you have encouraged (or could encourage) your child to get help from an adult outside your family? How has (or could) asking someone outside the family for help made a difference?

* These parenting adults may include your spouse or partner, extended family members, friends who are parents, or a parent group or class.

Next Steps

Learn about what it means and why it is important to expand possibilities.

Try activities for expanding possibilities in your family relationships.